Women about Town Hardcover - 2002

by Laura Jacobs

Iris Biddle would like to experience the Perfect Day. She'd like to wake up one morning with all errands done and deadlines met, her posh custom-lampshade business for once ahead of schedule-and have absolutely nothing to regret or worry about. Forty years old and determined to take it gracefully, Iris is experiencing the fallout from her painful divorce.

Lana Burton would like her boyfriend of two years to commit. At thirty-four, Lana is an eager young theater critic moving up the New York hierarchy one step at a time and learning that some friends resent a slow climb as much as a fast one.

A quintessential New York story, to be sure . . . but Iris and Lana deal with the issues and challenges that confront women everywhere: keeping friendships afloat, the checkbook balanced, the wardrobe current, the body in shape, the career moving, and the morale up. And what about achieving one's dreams while staying true to oneself?

Written in an impeccable style that is both light and lyrical, Women About Town has a sure ear for the way women talk to each other and a sharp eye for the way that they see their own lives. It is a remarkably assured debut by a sophisticated new novelist.